Title

Authors

Publication Date

4-1979

Abstract

[Excerpt] Yochan Peter Comay was an Israeli economist who received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1969. His career was tragically cut short in October 1973 when he was killed during the Yom Kippur War. Comay's research focused on bargaining models, investment in human capital, and analyses of migration. To honor him, Orley Ashenfelter and Wallace Oates have gathered together a collection of eleven essays written by his former colleagues and friends in both the United States and Israel, which faithfully reflect these interests. Included are two essays on aspects of bargaining theory, four relating to job satisfaction, work effort and job search, three on income distribution, and two that provide frameworks for evaluating specific labor market programs.

While all of the papers in this volume will be of at least passing interest to academic labor economists, their quality is unfortunately uneven. Some are substantive pieces on important issues and could clearly have found their way into leading academic journals, had the authors chosen to follow that route. Others are more preliminary in nature and would have profited from being refined and extended before being published. Fortunately, the majority fall in the first category.